The Hockey Noob Chronicles II (Beginners' Thread)

Ah, so I started at a bad time, no clinics next wednesday or the wednesday after.

A couple of things I did notice about myself though - getting ready, I shouldn't have put my pads, jersey or shin pads on until I put on my skates and had them tight. In the rush to get them on, I also chopped the end of a lace off! No biggie, I just would some clear tape around the end and got them on, however I couldn't get them as tight as I'd like.

So I'm going to go by my LHS, (the rink I use doesn't have much choice in their shop) and get properly fitted for some better, stiffer skates, as even after relacing later in the lesson, I felt myself on my inside edges a lot. Also better get some more laces, if I lost the lace a little longer, then I wouldn't have been able to even fully lace up...

I played hockey back in the 70's in Southern California and when I moved to Arizona the closest rink was two hours away- too long of a commute to play so went back to racing motorcycles. I have always missed it and when i moved to the Pacific Northwest about 4 years ago I discovered recently there is a rink buried about ten minutes from me in a commercial complex..Nice!

In the last few weeks I've bought all new skates and equipment and can't wait to play again! I can't believe how much everything has changed, especially the skates and sticks! Amazing stuff! I've only skated twice since coming back and after 30 years and the new type of skates it's like learning all over again, my mind remembers, the body thinks I've gone crazy! lol...

There's alot of great information here on this site and it's very cool to see I'm not the only one who trying to make a comeback..Very cool!

I can relate, played 5-6 years when I was a kid but was lazy and didn't work on my skating and stopped when I was like 12. Started skating again 30 years later (5 years ago) and started playing hockey again 2 years ago and am completely hooked - play about 4-6 hrs a week now between league and instructional.

I feel kinda like the Morgan Freeman character in Shawshank Redemption when he says he would like to talk some sense into his younger self. But what the hell, it is what it is, enjoy.

The skating comes back pretty quickly (I was probably a bit better than I remembered) and since I actually work on it now I'm a better skater now than when I was a kid even though I learn slower than then.

Anyway, good luck and have fun! If you're married, tell your wife to get used to smelly gear and weird game hours!

I've been reading this and the other thread way too long, I guess I'll suck it up and post my story...

I'm 32, and started skating about a year ago. Had done public skates w/rentals, etc... but that's it. Always been a huge hockey fan, but could never afford to get into it, until now, and I really want my kids to have a chance to play if they want to, since I never had the opportunity.

So last year I hit the LHS and bought a pair of skates, started going to lunch-time public skates at the rink near my office.
A year later and I still can't do a hockey stop, but I can skate backwards pretty decent, forward cross both ways, and all that. Last month I broke down and bought all the gear, been doing stick & puck twice a week and one drop-in session. I still can't get past that mental block of "it's not going to hurt if I fall cause I have all this crap on", but I'm getting there.
The local rink has stick & puck from 11-12 am, and drop-in from 12-2. There aren't too many people on weekdays so I mostly have a rink to myself for at least an hour, it's pretty nice.
Planning on doing this for the summer and then signing up for D League this fall, and see how it goes.

I can relate, played 5-6 years when I was a kid but was lazy and didn't work on my skating and stopped when I was like 12. Started skating again 30 years later (5 years ago) and started playing hockey again 2 years ago and am completely hooked - play about 4-6 hrs a week now between league and instructional.

I feel kinda like the Morgan Freeman character in Shawshank Redemption when he says he would like to talk some sense into his younger self. But what the hell, it is what it is, enjoy.

The skating comes back pretty quickly (I was probably a bit better than I remembered) and since I actually work on it now I'm a better skater now than when I was a kid even though I learn slower than then.

Anyway, good luck and have fun! If you're married, tell your wife to get used to smelly gear and weird game hours!

Thanks for the motivation! It will be a while to get my legs back under me but this is an absolute blast and I can't believe I waited this long! And my wife is used to odd smells in the garage and being gone alot- I've been racing dirt bikes for years! Different gear, same odor! lol...

Yeah and I just moved back to the Bay Area after graduating from college in Portland. Oh how I wish there was an NHL team there and not just the Winterhawks

I heard a while back that they were considering Seattle as a home for the Coyotes if the new owner didn't work out.. I'm not sure how far it got or if it was just a rumor.. It would be cool to have my favorite team in the NW though! Rather have them in PDX, but Seattle would have worked too!

I've been reading this and the other thread way too long, I guess I'll suck it up and post my story...

I'm 32, and started skating about a year ago. Had done public skates w/rentals, etc... but that's it. Always been a huge hockey fan, but could never afford to get into it, until now, and I really want my kids to have a chance to play if they want to, since I never had the opportunity.

So last year I hit the LHS and bought a pair of skates, started going to lunch-time public skates at the rink near my office.
A year later and I still can't do a hockey stop, but I can skate backwards pretty decent, forward cross both ways, and all that. Last month I broke down and bought all the gear, been doing stick & puck twice a week and one drop-in session. I still can't get past that mental block of "it's not going to hurt if I fall cause I have all this crap on", but I'm getting there.
The local rink has stick & puck from 11-12 am, and drop-in from 12-2. There aren't too many people on weekdays so I mostly have a rink to myself for at least an hour, it's pretty nice.
Planning on doing this for the summer and then signing up for D League this fall, and see how it goes.

good stuff man! Just pace yourself if you're not completely comfortable, you'll get there soon. And it really doesn't hurt when you fall unless you go into the boards or fall ackwardly. Good luck!

Thanks for the motivation! It will be a while to get my legs back under me but this is an absolute blast and I can't believe I waited this long! And my wife is used to odd smells in the garage and being gone alot- I've been racing dirt bikes for years! Different gear, same odor! lol...

How competent does my skating need to be for me to feel comfortable taking a Adult Hockey for Beginners class? Do i need to be able to skate backwards well (backwards cross-overs and such)? I feel quite good skating and as i've said before can hockey stop left side forward. Is this enough that i would be ok if I signed up?

How competent does my skating need to be for me to feel comfortable taking a Adult Hockey for Beginners class? Do i need to be able to skate backwards well (backwards cross-overs and such)? I feel quite good skating and as i've said before can hockey stop left side forward. Is this enough that i would be ok if I signed up?

Adult beginners is for brand-new skaters - You'll be fine! Just do it!

How competent does my skating need to be for me to feel comfortable taking a Adult Hockey for Beginners class? Do i need to be able to skate backwards well (backwards cross-overs and such)? I feel quite good skating and as i've said before can hockey stop left side forward. Is this enough that i would be ok if I signed up?

lol if you're required to know how to perform backward cross overs in order to attend an adult hockey for beginners class, then a lot of ppl would be in trouble

How competent does my skating need to be for me to feel comfortable taking a Adult Hockey for Beginners class? Do i need to be able to skate backwards well (backwards cross-overs and such)? I feel quite good skating and as i've said before can hockey stop left side forward. Is this enough that i would be ok if I signed up?

The fact it says "beginners" means you should be fine. You want to start playing hockey as soon as you can, because then all the skating that you're doing will start to make sense. To be honest, unless you play defense, you don't really use backwards skating. Occasionally, as a forward, you'll do some backwards crossovers to move laterally. When I play hockey, the main things I use are forward stride, tight turns, transitions, and forward stops.

So I'm joining a roller hockey league this summer. It'll be my first time playing in 7 years. I'm a little worried because I'll be playing with people who have been playing their whole lives, and I'm way out of shape. I'll probably be playing defense, which is what I played years ago. I'll check out the Defense Tip Thread too, but can anyone give me some general tips on what I can do as far as positioning and making sure people don't just skate right past me or around me?

It was just a stick and puck, but everyone else was putting on full equipment, so I thought to myself, "there's no harm in putting it all on, I'll only have myself to blame if I hurt myself from not wearing my pants and falling on my arse".

I felt much better out there, I did miss the puck a couple of times, but can see why, I seem to miss when my hand right hand is too far up the stick. I can pick up the puck fine with the stick in my left hand, then bring it over so I'm holding the stick with both hands, I also tried to keep my knees bent at all times, which helped, I didn't lose my balance after trying to hit the puck. I even got the puck into a goal, which was a big thing for me - despite no goalie being there and the puck only moving at 35mph...

Wanted to see if they had any better skates for me before I started, they only had low end Bauers and Eastons (still better than mine, with super flexible ankles) but none in 10s or 9s (which I think are actually the right size for me). He suggested I go to Wonderland at Chelsea Piers, so I'll go there before my next time on the ice.

In the meantime, I put the 120" laces on my skates, used the lace tightener and ended up with enough lace to wrap around my ankles. Not ideal, but it meant I was able to do a few crossovers and skate for the entire session without ending up on my inside edges all the time. The equipment is great though, all comfortable, except for the velcro of the elbow pads, I think I'll always need to use long sleeve under shirts as they weren't that bad with them...

So I'm joining a roller hockey league this summer. It'll be my first time playing in 7 years. I'm a little worried because I'll be playing with people who have been playing their whole lives, and I'm way out of shape. I'll probably be playing defense, which is what I played years ago. I'll check out the Defense Tip Thread too, but can anyone give me some general tips on what I can do as far as positioning and making sure people don't just skate right past me or around me?

Well its been a little while since I checked in here!
I've just spent the last couple of days in Belfast playing some puck against the NI Tridents and watching some field hockey (Pretty girls with Irish accents wearing short skirts= Heaven!).
Had a fantastic game against the Tridents, we lost 10-2 and it was fairly one sided but it was played in great spirit and personally I had a fairly good game, with a lack of possession my game was mostly forechecking which I did relatively well, I was skating well and my speed seemed to cause the D a fair few problems.
The ice was absolutely superb and being what seemed like an olympic sized rink there was loads of space to play so it was a good end to end game.
It was intended as an advert for the upcoming World Police & Fire games which are to be held in Belfast next year and we had a fairly good crowd there which made a big change for me!
Both teams:
Me in white, attempting a pass back to my centre after charging round the back of the net:
Waiting for a pass and the back door which sadly never made it to me!:
Breaking out of the zone:

It was a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days (we stayed up until 5 in the morning drinking) and we were made very welcome and looked after very well by the Tridents, if anyone has the opportunity to come to Belfast next year for the games then I definitely suggest it.

My first ever ice hockey league game tonight and it kicked ass and so did I. We won 4-3 on a goal with just over two minutes to go. I was playing left wing and I had two assists including one on that game winner and I'm currently tied for the league lead in points :p Did wonders for my confidence. Seems going to a drop-in that features a lot of college players does wonders too.

Bought my first two pieces of equipment this week. Up to this point I've only had a pair of skates which I really have come to love. They were the Vapor X1.0. At first I would always lace up to the top eyelet and I would get pain at the tops of my shin and had a hard time getting a deep bend, but the last two times I have left the top eyelet undone and it is way more comfortable and my technique has been able to improve ten fold. Definitely not for everybody, but that is working for me...

Anyway, I bought the Easton Stealth S9 helmet and then bought the S9 cage separately. I've only been wearing the helmet around the house so far, but I'm going to start wearing it in public skate to help break it in and also because I nearly cracked my skull doing backwards crossover drills. I don't really care how much of a bender I look like in a helmet/cage at public skate.

Also a huge tip for my fellow beginners that I learned is to put waxed laces in your boots!! I kept having to re-tie my skates 2 or 3 times during a public sesh. Not only was I wasting ice time on the bench, but it was a pain in the ass having your boots become loose and unstable and not completely messing you up. The wax laces will not move an inch. Just a quick inexpensive fix to help make learning how to skate easier.

I'm looking to get my first pair of pants, but after trying (CCM 09's) them on, I'm literally stuck between two sizes (LG and XL). I do plan on losing some weight, but it probably won't be a ton. Any suggestions?